The opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics takes place Friday evening in Italy. Broadcast live around the world, the event will take place simultaneously in four venues for the first time, marking the official start of the Games until February 22. Here's everything you need to know.
Published on: 06/02/2026 - 12:45
Let the show begin! More than a year and a half after the popular success of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, Italy is preparing to open the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday February 6. A highly anticipated event, which promises to mark Olympic history with its unique format.
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For the first time, an opening ceremony will take place simultaneously in four distinct locations: the San Siro stadium in Milan, and three Alpine venues - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Predazzo and Livigno - which will host the snow events. A staging designed to reflect the geographical diversity of this Italian edition.
At what time and on which channels to watch the ceremony?
The festivities will begin at 8 p.m. local time (GMT+1), with an estimated duration of approximately three hours.
In France, the ceremony will be broadcast live on France 2. Internationally, many channels will broadcast, including HBO Max in several European countries (Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden), the BBC in the United Kingdom, NBC and Peacock in the United States, and even CBC in Canada. Millions of viewers are expected in front of their screens.
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What do we know about the parade?
The traditional parade of delegations will bring together 92 countries, spread across the different ceremony sites. As is Olympic tradition, Greece will open the parade, while host country Italy will close it.
France, future organizer of the 2030 Winter Games, will parade in penultimate position. Led by its standard bearers Clément Noël and Chloé Trespeuch, the French delegation will include 162 athletes, including two replacements. A record for the Winter Games.
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Where and when will the Olympic flame be lit?
The highlight of the ceremony, the Olympic flame will be lit during the grand finale, scheduled for 10:30 p.m. local time. An unprecedented event in the history of the Games, two cauldrons will catch fire simultaneously, 400 kilometers apart.
In Milan, the flame will ignite under the Arch of Peace, an emblematic monument of the 19th century. In Cortina d'Ampezzo, it will shine in Piazza Dibona, in the heart of the Alpine resort.
According to the organizing committee, this double lighting symbolizes a “permanent dialogue between the different territories” of these Games. The design of the basins, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's famous knots, pays homage to the Italian artist and his long stay in Milan, while embodying "the harmony between nature and human ingenuity".
Who will be present?
On the show side, several prestigious names have been circulating for weeks, starting with the American star Mariah Carey, the opera singer Andrea Bocelli, the actor and producer Pierfrancesco Favino, the Chinese pianist Lang Lang and the singer Laura Pausini. The Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, revealed internationally by the series The White Lotus, is also announced.
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The suspense, however, remains around the last bearers of the flame. If the organization maintains the mystery, the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport affirms that it would be two legends of Italian alpine skiing, Alberto Tomba in Milan and Deborah Compagnoni in Cortina.
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